over its exclusion, was n1ade by God ! the highest mountain in the Promised -fI' Land and was presented with an envi- able cap of snow as compensation. Its tears became the Jordan River. In short, "Mt. SInai" is to Jews not so much a place as an intangible symbol. THE NE.W YORKER I T was almost five o'clock;, the hour of decision. I made my way down the mountain and around the back wal] of the monastery, the side closest to Mt. Sinai. The rarefied feeling of being in the presence of deathless his- tory which I had experienced up on the mountain across the wadi, was dis- 1 pelled by the trash heap I stumbled upon outside the back wall-a town dump of tin cans, liquor bottles, half- burned garbage, plastic containers, and such discarded odds and ends as a broken toilet seat and a split garden hose It was as if a wild picnic had taken place in the shadow of holiness, I S l aluti g g l odhood. with f r l ubbis l . d Even : ", ' 1ere In t 1e sanctIty 0 t 1e WI erness , there was a waste-disposal problem. I walked on top of the wall above the monks' garden, a flourishing rectangle of greenery, with cypresses, palms, fruit trees, grapevines, vegetables, flow- ers, and penned animals, including a peacock. An aqueduct brought water to the garden, and telephone lines led in from the direction of the IsraelI Field School. Both the newer and the older garden stones were etched with graffiti in Greek, Arabic, and He- brew-some, according to the engraved dates, more than a hundred years old. TourIsts never change. There was more activity in the courtyard than when I had left Bailey there, two hours earlier. Bailey was talking in English with a cherubic blond, blue-eyed German girl in her twenties and an older woman who was unmistakably her mother. They were ChrIstiane and Elisabeth Rahmer, from Frankfurt am Main, and they were touring the Holy Land on a shoestring. They had taken a bus to Nuweiba, hitchhiked to the FIeld School, and had hiked in to the mon- astery, assuming they would be wel- comed by the monks. They had since been told by the porter, via Bailey's translation, that they would not be welcomed and that they should leave the premises. Their feet were bruIsed from walking down the wadi road in cheap plastic sandals. \Vith no place to stay, with no more equipment than a water bottle and a small rucksack con- taining tins of food and a change of clothing, they were weary, scared, and confused Christiane said she had spent a month at a foreigners' kibbutz in Is- 121 WHERE TULIPS BLOOM AND SWAN BOATS GLIDE, PRACTICALLY AT YOUR FRONT DOOR " 1 ' ., ! ':f ì THE RITZ. jA'.- : ') , \ :t , I t $:c #" " <6/t " '\ .:."" 'G.. j THE RITZ CARLTON BOSTON PREFERRED HOTEL RESERVATIONS. 800 323 7500 ;. N' .$1'...;........ _.' '." k :t 4: t : 1W ., '. :P t PATEK PHILIPPE V.' : '.:"':.'. .'..... : ; ::::.. 1%> ". '-ie, i... oo . ;$ , ' J:,:; 't.. . "' . ,. ,. :r .ffi... . , < .... *.. .< \ t . . . .. "t'- , ." b- .... " ,,0: Q I : ^ ,*l ; '( f t :. ''\ < , ,." :" .:::,.:::):; . .. . f y ..:. ) '- .... . ' . *. "':':' .". :. .:";?-. % ** 'h> .:Þ-.<i.... .. -..:. - ... . $. ,} '. </ >""'. d:V <> '. + :.': bvt.. .$';.; 'C-Ø N ::: # '. . :...... :" .::. ..', <st 1 't '" \./ :;:::: k. J., .," ,j({ '. --' : ,.'<'::- rt:'ere is a store where I8-karat gold, through the artistry of Patek Philippe, . n tinted a regal blue. Here, from the Ellipse collection, in the key ring and cufflinks, the blue is surrounded by yellow; the watches are enhanced by either diamonds or a basket-woven band. The store is in New York City. It's Gubelin. CiI:JBELIN OUR 125TH YEAR 745 Fifth Ave, N.Y.C. (Bet. 57th & 58th Sts.) 212-755-0054 Lucerne · Zurich · Geneva · Berne · Basel · St. Moritz · Lugano · Burgenstock Major cards honored.